


Time

by Kairin16



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Pre-Canon, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2014-03-14
Packaged: 2018-01-15 16:19:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1311241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kairin16/pseuds/Kairin16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve's mom died in her sleep, the only way he knew the absence of coughing. Life changed after that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time

Life in an orphanage wasn’t a walk in the park for either the boys or the nuns that were taking care of them. More often than not the children had to plead with people for their charity just to stock up on bare essentials like soaps or towels. It was hard going, getting used to the harsh living in the house, especially for someone who still so acutely missed his recently deceased mother. Steve tried to look on the bright side of things in every aspects of life, just how his Mama taught him, but it was very difficult to stay optimistic in the face of everything that was wrong.

The funeral of Sarah Rogers was a quiet affair, with only a few people present. She might have been a nurse, but not many people knew her enough to even care she’d left the Earthly realm. The nun who was taking care of Steve took pity on him enough that she agreed to take him to the graveyard. He was going to say goodbye to his mother, promise her again that he would remember how to be a good man, a man that she and Pops would be proud of, but seeing the coffin with his mother’s body being lowered into the ground took his breath away. The sobs that started to wrack Steve’s body shook his slight frame enough to make the nun standing next to him worried. He couldn’t utter a word, but he had a feeling that his Mama would understand anyway, since she always seemed to know everything that was important anyway.

What followed were weeks of hard work, getting used to the schedule in the orphanage, and trying to make any friends in the place so he wouldn’t feel alone. It was made even harder when the winter came and he was forced to spend most of his time in the infirmary, Sister Elena sitting with him and bringing his temperature down. It became almost impossible to befriend anyone as all the kids went outside when it came time to play and he was stuck inside watching them through the frosted windows. The orphanage didn’t have enough winter gear for him to safely go into the snow and he knew enough about the lack of supplies that he didn’t complain. Besides, none of the Sisters could do anything about it, so it would be pointless to not come to terms with it.

The negative effect was that once the snow melted he was still the new kid, only now the bigger boys knew he was also sickly and weak, which apparently made him a perfect target to bully. During lessons they all learned that fighting was bad and that a sinner who didn’t adhere to God’s law would be punished in Hell, but it seemed that once the bell rang no one really thought about it further. Sister Adele gave out hard punishments to anyone who didn’t keep to the house rules, but even she couldn’t catch everyone red handed. Steve would never be the one to tell who exactly had given him that black eye during recess. Besides, it probably didn’t help that Steve never backed down. His life would be much easier if he could just leave some things alone and not stand up to Billy and his goons, but he couldn’t just stand by and watch them torment someone smaller than them. It didn’t matter that his stubbornness would get him twice his share of a beating.

It made for a slightly terrible life, even though the lessons weren’t that bad and he missed his Mama less with every day. He didn’t forget her, he never would, and he looked at her and Pop’s pictures every day before going to bed, but the ache he’d felt in his chest ever since she died was lessening. Sister Elena told him that was good, that it meant he was moving on and letting joy into his life again.

His life wasn’t the best, but he could take it, he was strong enough to. Up until the day when Billy was caught spying on Sister Eunice while she was taking a bath and sent to have his bottom paddled as a punishment. The orphanage tried to avoid the bodily punishments if they could, but something like that called for measures that would be difficult to forget. Sister Adele was sure that this time Billy would learn his lesson. The only lesson Billy learned was that it took his hurt and embarrassment away if he took it out on someone else. In retrospect, Steve should have known better than to say no when he was told to give up his dessert. The point was, they only got dessert on Sundays, because the orphanage couldn’t afford it any more often. So to give that up would be to give up something he was looking forward to for an entire seven days.

The push sent him straight into the trashcans behind the building and he could feel blood oozing from a cut on his elbow as soon as he stood up. Another punch sent him reeling to the side, but he managed to keep his footing, only swaying so he could lean on the nearest wall. Steve set his jaw and braced himself for the next punch, but before Billy’s fist could connect it was seized in another one and the bigger boy lost his balance and ended up on his sore butt on the ground. A tall, tanned boy stood before Steve. Billy eventually decided that he wasn’t up to fighting two people and scrambled away with his goons.

“You alright?” The boy turned to Steve, looking him over critically. Steve wasn’t sure if the gaze was looking for injuries or weaknesses so to be on the safe side he straightened up and thrust his jaw upwards, just to show that he wasn’t someone to push around, even if the all evidence pointed to the contrary.

“I’m fine” Steve answered gruffly, pressing his hand to the cut on his elbow, hoping to stem the blood enough that he wouldn’t get his shirt dirty. Sister Amelia would give him hell if he needed yet another shirt this week.

The boy just shrugged and extended his hand, offering it to Steve. “If you say so. I’m Bucky. I just got here.”

Steve shook the offered hand with a small smile, silently thinking that Bucky must be a little slow in the head if he didn’t hesitate to make an enemy out of the biggest bully in the house on his first day.

“My name’s Steve.” He answered politely and offered to show Bucky around the orphanage and introduce him to the nicest Sisters. Sister Elena didn’t take a shining to him, which was weird for her as she was known to adore even the most unruly of her pupils. But the longer they were walking and talking together, the more Steve himself liked the boy, and he cautiously thought that maybe he’d finally found a real friend in the walls of their orphanage.

And when Bucky took his hand and started running, their fingers intertwined, Steve followed without a question. The boy explained to him later that Billy was waiting to jump them from one of the empty classrooms and they laughed together at their dashing escape. Steve had a feeling that it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.


End file.
